488 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



but the greater number of eggs were found between June 20th and 30th ; 

 one clutch of eggs I found in a thick pine plantation ; the others were 

 under isolated trees, either small pines or Spanish chestnuts (see p. 91). 

 Young House Martins were flying about June 22nd. On July 1st I came 

 across two or three Crossbills, Loxia curvirostra, but could not accurately 

 determine the number, because of the density of the pine foliage ; they 

 haunted the same spot for several days, and I picked up a pine-cone par- 

 tially stripped of its seeds, which one of them was surprised in dissecting ; 

 they were all in the green plumage. The date seems rather an unusual 

 one for these birds ; I have failed to find any during the autumn. The last 

 of our Nightjars I saw flying at 6.30 p.m. on October 2nd. Great numbers 

 of Goldcrests appeared at the end of September and beginning of October, 

 but they have now considerably diminished. The season, with its number 

 of acorns, has been most favourable for the Jays ; the woods here (the 

 outskirts of Windsor Forest) are full of these birds and Green Woodpeckers. 

 The latter birds seem to alter their habits in accordance with circumstances ; 

 in quite the borders of the forest, where the old timber has been cleared 

 and young trees have sprung up, they occasionally nest in holes in the 

 ground, generally by a rotten tree-root or post; they hunt their insects on 

 the ground, digging quite deep holes in their eagerness after their prey. 

 I have noticed that when flushed off the ground they seldom, if ever, utter 

 the cry which they generally employ when startled — a shortened form of 

 the "lauch" used in the breeding season. Peewits, of which in spring and 

 summer there are great numbers, entirely disappear from the district in 

 early autumn. Swallows and House Martins I last saw on October 20th. 

 On November 1st, seeing two dark masses overliead at a great height, with 

 the aid of field-glasses I made out two flocks of Wild Ducks ; each flock 

 consisted of between fifty and sixty birds ; they were flying S.W., with a 

 favourable wind. — T. N.PosTLETHWAiTElHallthwaite, Millom, Cumberland). 



Eared Grebe and Velvet Scoter at Hunstanton. — On November 3rd 

 I received from Hunstanton a fresh specimen of the Eared Grebe, in the 

 first year's plumage. The boatman who forwarded it to me, in a letter dated 

 October 20th, told me that on the 10th he shot two fine Velvet Scoters, 

 adding, " It is very early yet for wildfowl." He is a very intelligent 

 observer, and knows the two species of Scoter perfectly well. — Julian G. 

 Tuck (St. Mary's Clergy House, Bucknall, Stoke-on-Trent). 



Ornithological Notes from Oxfordshire.— The Crested Grebes on the 

 Reservoir had good-sized young following them by June 19th: the latter 

 have a very shrill and rather loud piping cry, which they utter incessantly 

 when following the old birds for food. As the Green Sandpiper has been 

 mentioned several times in ' The Zoologist' and ' Field,' it may be well to 

 state that Oxfordshire was visited by some numbers of these birds during 



